Bhima-Koregaon case: ferreira questions Pune Police’s evidence

Arguments for the bail application of human rights activist and lawyer Arun Ferreira commenced in the Bombay high court (HC) on Friday. Ferreira’s advocate submitted

Arguments for the bail application of human rights activist and lawyer Arun Ferreira commenced in the Bombay high court (HC) on Friday. Ferreira’s advocate submitted that though the Pune police had arrested him based on documents and letters recovered from the computers of other co- accused arrested in connection with the Bhima Koregaon violence, there was no corroboration with evidence to implicate him. Ferreira further submitted that he was targeted because he had assisted Surendra Gadling, a co- accused, in a case pertaining to Naxal activities before the Nagpur bench of the Bombay high court. Arguments will continue on Monday.

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Advocate Sudeep Pasbola, who was representing Ferreira, informed the bench of justice Sarang Kotwal that Ferreira was wrongly implicated just because he was behind bars for almost five years in 2007 in connection with 12 cases pertaining to Naxal activities. Pasbola submitted that Ferreira had been acquitted in all those cases.

He further submitted that his client was an office-bearer of the Indian Association of People’s Lawyers (IAPL) which was chaired by Gadling and another accused, Sudha Bharadwaj, was its vice-president. Pasbola submitted that Ferreira was an active member of IAPL but as it was not a banned organisation he participated in the golden jubilee celebrations of the Naxal movement under the aegis of IAPL. However, Pasbola submitted that was being construed as evidence to implicate him in the Bhima Koregaon violence and the Elgar Parishad conclave case just because Gadling and Bharadwaj were also named as accused.

The Pune police claim that the Elgar Parishad, a one-day conference held in Shaniwar Wada in the city on December 31, 2017, was organised with the help of Maoists a day ahead of the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Bhima Koregaon. The next day, violence erupted as lakhs of people, mainly Dalits, marched from Pune to the village of Koregaon Bhima to mark the anniversary of the battle between Marathas and the British. One person died and several others were injured in the clashes.

Pasbola submitted that as even the documents recovered from the computers of accused Rona Wilson and Gadling wherein Ferreira’s name was mentioned did not allude to either the riots or the conclave, there was no corroboration of the evidence against him.

He finally submitted that as Ferreira had been assisting Gadling who represented professor GN Saibaba in the case wherein the professor was accused and convicted for having alleged links with Maoists, the state first targeted Gadling and then Ferreira. In light of these submissions, Pasbola said the police did not have any evidence against Ferreira and hence should be granted bail.